The College Deal
Most of the skill that is taught in college never applies to the job that one lands in after crossing the graduation finish line.
The labor market doesn’t pay for the useless subjects that students master; it pays for the preexisting traits that are signaled by mastering those subjects.
If college were really about mastering skills (and not mere concepts) then students who study science would absorb the scientific method better, and then habitually use it to analyze the world. But that rarely happens.
Here’s one good example from The Big Bang Theory. Take out 20 seconds and watch this one. It's fun (and insightful).
With over 40 years in education, Bryan Caplan, economics professor at George Mason University, makes a case that the aim to send more and more students to college is less about mastering a skill and more about signaling that one can be trained for the job at hand.
He argues that, if everyone had a college degree, the result would be not great jobs for all, but runaway credential inflation.
Its an interesting take on our obsession with college education.
Check it out-
The World Might Be Better Off Without College for Everyone
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